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ADDRESS 


DELIVERED 


AT   THE  TZilTTH  i&.KXrZVI!RSAItV 


MASSACHUSETTS    PEACE    SOCIETY 


DECEMBER,  25,  1825. 


By  WILLIAM  LADD,  Esq. 


BOSTON, 

PUBLISHED    AT    THE    OFFICE    OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    REGISTER, 
81  AVASHINGTON   STREET. 

1826. 

Printed  by  Isaac.  R.  Butts  and  Co.  Congress  ftreet. 


UCSB   LIBRARY 


/WW 


ADDRESS. 


*®^P9***' 


Opinion,  says  one  of  our  most  able  statesmen, 
"  Opinion  is  the  queen  of  the  world."  But  her 
decrees  are  not,  like  the  laws  of  the  Modes  and 
Persians,  unalterable.  Changes  sometimes  take 
place ;  and  the  frequency  of  change  is,  generally, 
in  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  magnitude  of  the  body 
changing.  Small  communities  change  often  ; 
while  larger  ones  are  more  slow  and  gradual  in 
their  changes  ;  and  it  is  a  long  time  before  an 
opinion,  which  has  been  entertained  by  the  bulk 
of  mankind,  will  be  abandoned.  Yet  such  changes 
have  actually  occurred, — in  the  sciences, — in  poli- 
tics,— and  in  religion.  The  opinions  now  main- 
tained are,  many  of  them,  directly  opposite  to 
those,  which  were  supported  a  few  centuries  ago, 
and  these  changes  have  been  the  result  of  greater 


4 

light  and  knowledge.  Thus,  the  ancient  systems 
of  astronomy  were  overthrown  by  Copernicus, — 
limited  monarchy  and  self-government  take  the 
place  of  despotism,  and  "  the  glorious  Gospel  of 
the  blessed  God'"'  succeeds  to  heathen  absurdities 
and  the  austere  precepts  of  the  Old  Testament, 
which  were  suited  to  the  hard  hearts  of  a  stiff- 
necked  generation  ;  and  when  this  "  new  and 
better  covenanf*  had  been  obscured,  by  a  long 
night  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  it  was  again 
brought  to  light  by  a  few  magnanimous  reform- 
ers ;  and  knowledge  has  been  since  that  time 
increasing,  though  we  are  yet  far  from  the  virtues 
of  the  first  professors  of  Christianity. 

Of  the  many  changes  in  public  opinion,  I 
would  call  your  attention  to  those  only,  which 
have  an  immediate  bearing  on  the  cause  of  per- 
manent and  universal  peace. 

Piracy  was  a  common  practice  with  the  polished 
Athenians, — the  most  polite  and  refined  nation 
of  antiquity,  and  that  piracy  was  practised  in  the 
most  bloody  and  ferocious  manner  ;  it  being  the 
custom  to  murder  all  the  prisoners,  excepting  a 
few,  reserved  for  slavery.  With  our  Scandinavian 
ancestors,  a  hero  was  famous  in  proportion  to  the 
success  of  his  piracies.  A  renowned  pirate  was 
considered  as  the  most  praiseworthy  and  honour- 
able of  mankind, — enjoying  the  peculiar  smiles  of 
Odin,  whom  he  was  enabled  to  propitiate  by  sac- 


rifices  of  human  victims.  The  greatest  glory  and 
pleasure  of  this  warlike  nation  consisted  in  in- 
toxicating themselves  vi^ith  mead,  drunk  from  the 
sculls  of  their  slaughtered  enemies,  and  their 
greatest  disgrace  was  to  die  in  bed  ; — to  avoid 
which,  they  dashed  themselves  in  pieces,  by  leap- 
ing from  precipices.  As  their  state  of  society 
was  unfriendly  to  agriculture,  and  their  support, 
depending  on  pillage,  precarious,  it  was  lawful 
for  parents  to  expose  their  children  to  perish,  or 
to  sell  them  into  slavery,  when  it  was  inconve- 
nient to  support  them. 

Less  than  two  centuries  ago,  vessels  were  fitted 
out  in  British  ports  on  both  sides  the  Atlantic,  for 
the  avowed  purpose  of  piracy ;  and  the  brave 
Danipier  returned  to  England  to  publish  his 
journal  of  a  cruise  in  the  Pacific  ocean,  and  to 
enjoy  the  glory  and  plunder  he  had  acquired  by 
his  heroic  deeds  of  murder  and  robbery ;  and 
was  not  only  unpunished  and  uncensured  for  his 
crimes,  but  advanced  to  the  station  of  a  com- 
mander in  the  royal  navy. 

How  much  has  public  opinion  changed,  in  all 
these  particulars  !  So  far  is  piracy  from  being 
honourable,  in  our  days,  that  all  private  war, — 
even  though  sanctioned  by  a  license,  and  waged 
against  the  subjects  of  a  hostile  power, — has  be- 
come, in  a  great  measure,  disgraceful ;  and  a 
laudable  attempt  has  been   made  by  our  govern- 


*  6 

ment,  to  put  a  stop  to  privateering  throughout  the 
Christian  world.  The  time  was,  when  piracy  was 
considered  as  honourable  as  any  war  ;  and  the 
time  will  come,  when  no  war,  at  least  no  offen- 
sive war,  will  be  thought  more  honourable  than 
piracy. 

In  ancient  times,  differences  were  settled  by 
judicial  combat.  Public  opinion  sanctioned  the 
practice,  and  the  conqueror  was  honoured,  while 
the  vanquished  was  consigned  to  contempt  and 
ignominy.  Unfortunately,  this  savage  custom  is 
not  entirely  obliterated,  but  public  opinion  is  so 
far  corrected,  that  the  vanquished  are  sometimes 
buried  with  military  honours. 

Slavery  is  so  intimately  connected  with  war, 
that  it  fairly  comes  within  the  range  of  my  subject. 
The  present  generation  has  witnessed  a  wonderful 
change  in  this  particular.  Fifty  years  ago,  the 
slave  trade  was  as  honourable,  as  it  was  lucrative. 
Now  it  is  made  piracy,  by  law,  and  is  viewed  with 
horror  and  disgust,  by  every  virtuous  member  of 
society. 

Formerly,  prisoners  of  war  were  put  to  the 
torture,  or  murdered  in  cold  blood,  or  enslaved. 
Now,  the  moment  an  enemy  lays  down  his  arms, 
he  ceases  to  be  a  foe,  and  is  treated  with  all  the 
hospitality,  which  is  due  to  a  stranger.  So  great 
is  our  detestation  of  a  contrary  line  of  conduct, 
tJiat,  notwithstanding  our  sympathy  for  the  suffer- 


ing  Greeks,  we  are  shocked  at  their  barbarities, 
and  lament  that  they  have  inherited  the  cruelty, 
along  with  the  bravery  of  their  pagan  ancestors  ; 
regardless  of  the  precepts  of  that  benign  religion, 
by  the  sacred  name  of  which  they  are  called. 

The  time  was,  when  women  and  children  were 
carried  into  captivity  and  sold  for  slaves  ;  now, 
not  only  they,  but,  all  other  non-combatants,  ex- 
cept seamen  in  the  merchant  service,  are  unmo- 
lested. 

But  I  need  not  take  up  your  time,  to  enume- 
rate customs,  which  have  long  since,  and  forever, 
passed  away  ;  but  which  were  once  as  strenuously 
advocated,  as  the  custom  of  war  is  now,  or  ever 
has  been  ; — for  your  memory  will  furnish  you  with 
changes  in  public  opinion,  as  great  as  any  I  have 
mentioned.  We  may  therefore  safely  conclude, 
from  the  experience  of  the  past,  that,  as  mankind 
advance  in  knowledge  and  refinement,  other 
changes,  ameliorating  the  condition  of  the  human 
species,  may  be  effected  ;  and  that,  among  other 
evils,  the  custom  of  war,  the  most  direful  scourge 
that  has  ever  afflicted  mankind,  may  cease. 

What  gives  us  the  greatest  encouragement  in 
this  hope,  is  the  fact,  that  society  itself  has  the 
supreme  control  over  that  passion,  which  above 
all  others,  is  a  cause  of  war, — a  love  of  military 
glory.  And  what  is  this  glory  ?  A  bubble, — "  a 
pufF  of  noisy  breath,"  which  every  individual  in 


8 

society,  however  low  his  station,  can  increase  or 
diminish  ; — a  vampyre,  which  lives  on  the  breath 
of  the  people,  and  starves  the  living,  to  feed  the 
dead. 

So  long  as  mankind  continue  to  elevate  invaders 
and  conquerors, — those  scourges  of  their  race, — to 
the  highest  pinnacle  of  renown,  so  long  must  they 
expect  to  smart  beneath  their  lash.  What  induced 
Alexander  to  depopulate  his  paternal  dominions,  to 
enable  him  to  conquer  Persia  ?  The  love  of  glory. 
What  induced  Charles  the  Twelfth  to  draw,  from 
his  iron  hills,  "  the  soldier  and  his  sword,"  and  im- 
poverish a  country  already  poor  ?  It  was  the  ex- 
ample of  Alexander,  which  fired  his  mind,  with  the 
love  of  military  glory.  What  induced  Frederick 
of  Prussia  to  make  war  on  the  young,  defenceless, 
orphan  Queen  of  Hungary  ?  He  tells  you  himself, — 
"  the  hope  of  acquiring  renoicn.''''  In  what  do  these 
characters  differ  from  the  marauder,  who  robs  the 
sheepfold  and  butchers  the  flock,  for  sport; — from 
the  highwayman,  who  plunders  the  traveller  of  a 
jewel,  that  he  may  give  it  away  ; — from  the  bully, 
who  waylays,  robs,  and  insults  a  defenceless  woman, 
that  he  may  boast  of  it ; — in  what  do  they  diflfer, 
except  in  the  magnitude  of  their  crimes,  and  the 
multitude  of  their  offences  ?  As  such  men  are  in- 
fluenced by  public  opinion,  if  they  met  the  same 
contempt  in  one  case  as  in  the  other;  if,  instead 
of  being  entitled  "  the  great,"  they  were  brand- 


ed  as  infamous, — there  would  be  no  such  charac- 
ters. 

It  is  evident,  that  the  continuance  of  the  custom 
of  war  depends  on  the  t)oice  of  the  people,  not  only 
in  republican  governments,  where  it  is  the  supreme 
law,  but  also  in  the  most  absolute  monarchies  ;  for 
even  despots  bow  to  the  "  Queen  of  the  world"  and 
acknowledge  her  power.  Public  opinion  can  not 
only  prevent  those  wars  which  originate  in  a  love  of 
glory,  which  are  by  far  the  greater  part, — but  it  can 
also  overawe  the  love  of  power,  of  wealth,  of  re- 
venge, and  say  to  the  angry  passions,  "  peace,  be 
still." 

There  is  not  probably  in  this  assembly,  nor  in  all 
our  happy  country,  a  man  so  hardened,  as  to  assert, 
that  war  is  a  blessing, — that  it  is  not  a  curse, — a 
most  direful  calamity.  War's  greatest  apologists 
universally  agree  to  call  it  an  evil ;  a  tremendous 
evil. 

Since  then,  all  acknowledge  war  to  be  an  evil  of 
enormous  magnitude,  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to 
descant  on  its  horrors  and  atrocities.  Unfortu- 
nately, they  have  been  too  well  exemplified,  in  our 
day.  What  pencil  can  paint,  what  language  can 
describe,  the  horrors  of  Borodino,  Moscow,  Bere- 
zina and  Waterloo  ? — horrors  which  have  not  been 
equalled  since  the  sack  of  Jerusalem.  Nor  are 
these  miseries  confined  to  the  wounded  soldier, 
consumed,  alive,  in  the  burning  hospital,  amid  the 
2 


10 

shrieks  and  groans  of  twelve  thousand  others,  as 
wretched  as  himself;  (a)  nor  to  him  who,  over- 
come with  hunger  and  fatigue,  and  pierced  by  the 
northern  blast,  falls,  unheeded  by  his  companions 
in  misery,  among  the  drifted  snow,  which  soon  co- 
vers him ;  (b)  nor  to  him  who,  benumbed  with 
cold,  seated  on  the  dead  body  of  his  fellow-soldier, 
gnaws  a  half  wasted  human  limb,  or  the  remains 
of  a  scanty  pittance  of  horse  flesh,  of  which  he  has 
just  robbed  his  dying  comrade  ;  too  happy,  if  the 
excess  of  his  sufferings  has  brought  on  a  delirium, 
which  causes  his  hysteric  laugh  to  prevail  over  the 
dying  groans  of  his  companions;  (c)  nor  to  him 
who,  having  escaped  these  dangers,  is  tumbled,  by 
a  fellow-soldier's  arm,  from  the  bridge,  into  the 
freezing  current  of  the  Berezina,  or  is  trampled  to 
death,  beneath  the  hoofs  of  the  flying  cavalry,  or 
is  crushed  beneath  the  ponderous  wheels  of  the 
retreating  artillery ;  (d)  nor  to  him,  who  lay  four- 
teem  nights  and  days, — oh  how  long  those  nights 
and  days  I — expiring  on  the  field  of  Waterloo,  (e) 
Nor  is  this  all, — no,  nor  trampled  harvests, — nor 
burning  cottages, — nor  plundered  villages, — nor 
sacked  cities  ; — no,  nor  houseless  age,  nor  starv- 
ing childhood,  nor  even  the  shri- ks  of  virgin  beau- 
ty, flying,  in  vain,  from  the  hot  pursuit  of  lust ; — 
no,  these  do  not  fill  up  the  picture.  In  the  back- 
ground, obscured  from  vulgar  gaze,  the  aged  pa- 
rent, robbed,  by  the  conscription  or  impressment,  of 


11 

his  last  earthly  hope, — the  widowed  mother,  with 
her  defenceless  orphans, — the  betrothed  virgin, 
with  all  her  fond  anticipations  blasted,  and  the  cup 
of  connubial  felicity  dashed  untasted  from  her 
lips, — and  the  thousand  ramifications  of  misery, 
wherever  there  are  hearts  to  bleed  or  bosoms  to 
heave, — all  thcise  are  necessary  to  make  up  the 
scene.  And  when  all  these  well  authenticated 
facts,  and  ten  thousand  others,  are  collected  toge- 
ther, and  there  is  added  to  them,  all  that  the  most 
vivid  imagination  can  conceive,  still  the  picture  falls 
far,  very  far,  short  of  the  original.  Now  what  is  the 
cause  of  all  this  intensity  of  suffering  ?  Ambition. 
And  who  feeds  this  insatiable  monster  with  ap- 
plause, without  which  it  must  die  ?  We,  the  people. 

But,  because  there  is  no  evil,  however  great, 
which  may  not  be  productive  of  some  good,  war 
has  its  advocates,  who  would  put  a  few  adventi- 
tious circumstances  in  the  scale  against  the  im- 
mensity of  suffering  and  grief,  which  it  causes. 

War,  say  its  abettors,  gives  opportunity  for  the 
display  of  fortitude  and  heroism.  So  did  the  In- 
quisition. But  would  any  one  wish  for  its  rc-estab- 
lishment,  that  another  Cranmer,  (by  turns  a  per- 
secutor and  persecuted,)  might  burn  his  own  right 
hand  to  a  cinder,  or  that  a  Huss  might  exhibit 
an  heroic  fortitude  and  contempt  of  death,  in 
all  its  most  horrid  forms.  Public  opinion  has 
frowned  on  religious  persecution  and  annihilated 


it.  The  despot  of  Spain,  with  all  his  folly,  dare 
not  restore  the  Inquisition,  and  when  public  opi- 
nion shall  equally  frown  on  war,  no  despot  will  be 
able  to  resist  her. 

But,  without  war,  what  should  we  do  for  mate- 
rials for  history?  What!  shall  we  encourage  high- 
way robbery  and  murder,  lest  the  annals  of  New- 
gate and  the  newspapers  of  the  day  should  lack 
interest  ?  Are  mankind  such  vultures,  that  nothing 
will  suit  their  appetite  but  blood  and  carnage. 
Are  not  tornadoes,  inundations,  earthquakes  and 
pestilence,  sufficient  to  satisfy  our  longings  for  the 
miseries  of  our  fellow-creatures  ?  What  prevents 
us  from  taking  an  interest  in  the  march  of  intel- 
lect, the  progress  of  science,  improvements  in  the 
arts,  the  spread  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  increasing 
comforts  of  all  classes  of  men  at  home  and  abroad. 
But,  our  moral  taste  is  vitiated,  in  our  youth — even 
in  our  infancy.  Almost  the  first  sounds  we  hear 
are  martial,  the  first  playthings  we  handle  are 
military,  the  first  pictures  and  spectacles  we  see 
are  warlike,  and  the  first  books  we  read  exalt  va- 
lour over  every  other  virtue,  and  conquerors  above 
all  other  men.  Were  it  not  for  this,  a  safety  lamp 
would  interest  us  more  than  a  Congreve  rocket, 
the  tunnel  under  the  Thames  more  than  the  trophy 
at  Waterloo ;  the  canals  from  Portsmouth  to  Lon- 
don, and  from  Havre  to  Paris,  more  than  the  bat- 
tle of  the  Nile,  which,  to  say  nothing  of  the  loss  of 


13 

lives  and  limbs,  cost  more  money  than  both ;  and, 
to  come  back  to  our  own  country,  had  not  our  taste 
been  thus  vitiated,  our  grand  canal,  which,  like  most 
other  great  and  noble  enterprises,  was  at  its  com- 
mencement sneered  at  by  little  minds,  but  by  the 
completion  of  which,  the  stupendous  genius,  that 
planned  the  gigantic  work,  has  covered  himself 
with  unfading  laurels,  and  erected  a  monument, 
infinitely  surpassing  the  trophies  of  Alexander  or 
Caesar,  of  Tamerlane  or  Napoleon  ;  I  say,  were 
it  not  for  prejudices  imbibed  in  our  youth,  this 
splendid  and  bloodless  victory  of  art  over  nature, 
would  be  a  greater  cause  of  exultation  than  all  the 
glory  of  the  late  war,  though  purchased  at  less 
than  a  twentieth  part  of  the  expense. 

But  war  is  an  interesting  spectacle.  So  is  a  city 
on  fire ;  but  what  modern  Nero  would  set  fire  to 
this  city,  or  rejoice  in  the  conflagration,  that  he 
might  witness  the  grandeur  of  the  scene  ?  The 
view  of  a  volcano  is  grand  and  majestic,  but  who 
would  wish  to  see  the  vineyards,  villas  and  villages, 
which  adorn  the  base  of  Vesuvius,  inundated  by  a 
flood  of  burning  lava,  and  Naples,  like  Hercula- 
neum  and  Pompeii,  buried  under  a  shower  of  cin- 
ders, that  he  might  gratify  his  admiration  of  the 
sublime. 

But,  say  our  opponents,  war  is  necessary  to 
drain  ofl"  the  refuse  of  society,  and  cleanse  the 
body  politic  of  its  peccant  humors :  a  fine  com- 


14 

pliment  to  the  dignity  of  human  nature  in  general, 
and  to  the  army  and  navy  in  particular  !  But  fact 
speaks  a  contrary  doctrine,  and  assures  us  that 
where  one  vagabond  is  disposed  of  in  war,  ten 
others  are  made  ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  brave,  the 
generous  and  humane,  who,  infatuated  by  a  love  of 
fame,  rush  blindly  into  the  same  destructive  vor- 
tex. That  war  corrupts  the  public  morals  and 
lowers  the  standard  of  morality  is  proverbial ;  so 
that  a  nation  that  engages  in  war,  for  the  purpose 
of  mending  its  morals,  acts  as  wisely  as  the  man, 
who  subjects  himself  to  a  loathsome  disease,  in 
order  to  purify  his  blood. 

But,  say  the  friends  of  war, — allowing  all  your 
arguments  to  be  correct,  still  it  is  necessary  to  keep 
up  a  martial  spirit  for  the  purpose  of  self-defence. 
In  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  every  man  in 
England  wore  a  sword.  History  does  not  inform 
us  who  first  laid  it  aside,  nor  is  the  time  of  the 
change  distinctly  marked,  but  the  fashion  altered, 
and  the  citizen  of  London  is  now  infinitely  less  ex- 
posed to  insult,  than  when  he  went  armed.  What 
protects  the  unarmed  citizen  ?  Public  opinion  ; 
and  public  opinion,  when  well  informed,  will  equal- 
ly protect  the  state,  that  seeks. ij^  peace.  Besides, 
the  progress  of  the  principles  of  peace  will,  like 
all  other  great  changes,  be  gradual  and  general, 
though  they  may  prevail  more  in  one  country  than 
in  another;  and  experience  has  shewn,  that  where 


15 

tliey  have  been  adopted,  they  have  not  invited  ag- 
gression. 

Our  opponents  also  join  our  lukewarm  friends 
and  say,  however  good  your  motive,  your  object  is 
chimerical  and  Utopian,  and  your  hopes  will  never 
be  realized,  wars  will  continue  so  long  as  the  world 
stands.  The  same  objections  were  made  against 
the  early  reformers,  the  opposers  of  the  slave  trade 
and  the  advocates  for  religious  toleration.  Yet, 
these  causes  have  succeeded  in  a  measure,  are  still 
in  progress,  and  will  advance  until  the  most  san- 
guine expectations  of  their  first  movers  shall  be 
realized.  The  greatest  changes  must  have  a  be- 
ginning.  All  the  great  moral  revolutions,  which 
the  world  has  witnessed,  have  each  been  com- 
menced by  one  or  two  individuals.  Luther  and 
Calvin  began  the  reformation  ;  Clarkson  and  Wil- 
berforce  undertook  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade. 
Had  not  individuals  made  the  attempt,  the  Roman 
Catholic  superstition  and  the  slave  trade  would 
have  continued  to  this  day  undiminished. 

But  were  it  always  peace,  we  should  have  none 
of  the  "pomp  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war." 
We  should  miss  our  triumphs,  our  illuminations, 
our  military  reviews  and  balls,  our  anniversaries  of 
battles,  and  all  that  display  of  beauly,  eloquence, 
glitter  and  parade,  which  are  so  captivating  to  the 
fancy  of  tfie  young,  and  which  renew  the  youthful 
vi^or  of  the  hoary  veteran.    These  are  fine  flowers, 


16 

it  must  be  confessed,  but  they  are  manured  with 
the  blood  of  the  brave,  and  watered  with  the  tears 
of  widows  and  orphans,  and  their  fruits  are  often 
"  the  grapes  of  Sodom  and  the  clusters  of  Gomor- 
rah." Instead  of  a  triumphal  procession,  after  a 
victory,  should  the  livid  and  disfigured  corses  of 
the  dead  be  borne  along,  followed  by  litters  filled 
with  the  wounded,  and  surrounded  by  widows  and 
orphans  ; — if,  instead  of  martial  music,  were  heard 
the  loud  groans  of  the  wounded,  and  the  shrieks 
of  the  bereaved,  one  such  triumph  would  forever 
sicken  us  of  war.  But  no, — while  loud  Te  Deums 
rend  the  air,  the  sigh  which  breaks  the  heart,  and 
the  "  tear  which  scalds  the  cheek,"  are  shut  out 
from  our  observation. 

There  are  other  objections  against  peace,  but 
they  are  too  futile  to  require  refutation,  and  we 
pass  to  other  reflections. 

To  those  who  judge  a  matter  before  they  hear 
it,  we  can  say  nothing.  Of  those  who  are  too  wise 
in  their  own  conceits  ever  to  change  an  opinion, 
according  to  the  proverb,  we  can  have  but  little 
hope.  But  to  men  of  candour  and  enlarged  views, 
we  say,  the  subject  deserves  investigaiion  ;  the 
object  we  aim  at  is  all  important ;  the  blessings 
we  seek  are  unspeakable  ;  they  are  certainly  worth 
an  endeavour.  As  great  changes  have  taken  place 
in  public  opinion  as  that  which  we  contemplate. 
Public  opinion  has  already  passed  over  more  than 


17 

half  the  distance,  which  separates  the  barbarous 
customs  of  our  ancestors  from  a  total  abolition  of 
the  custom  of  war,  and  it  must,  to  every  one,  ap- 
pear infinitely  more  probable,  that  it  will  advance 
until  it  reaches  the  utmost  bounds  of  our  wishes, 
than  that  it  should  retrograde  into  those  shades  of 
ignorance,  cruelty,  oppression  and  injustice,  which 
were  the  delight  and  glory  of  our  heathen  progen- 
itors. No,  a  revolution  of  public  opinion  has 
commenced  ;  and,  "  revolutions  do  not  go  back." 
The  time  will  come,  and  that  shortly,  when  na- 
tions will  settle  their  disputes  by  amicable  adjust- 
ment or  arbitration,  and  will  look  back  on  war  with 
as  much  amazement,  as  we  do  on  the  ordeal  by 
battle  and  the  burning  of  heretics,  and  with  equal 
astonishment,  that  mankind  should  ever  have 
thought  of  settling  their  differences  by  the  sword, 
or  their  faith  by  the  faggot. 

The  friends  of  peace  have  much  to  encourage 
them.  All  their  reasonable  expectations  have  been 
thus  far  realized.  The  reign  of  peace,  like  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven,  of  which  it  is  the  harbinger, 
"  cometh  not  with  observation."  By  its  very  na- 
ture it  is  without  tumult,  pomp  and  display.  It  is 
not  in  the  whirlwind,  it  is  not  in  the  earthquake, — 
but,  it  is  in  the  "  still  small  voice."  It  is  not  like 
the  cataract,  dashing  impetuously  from  precipice 
to  precipice,  bedewing  the  skies  with  its  spray, 
crowning  itself  with  the  rainbow,  and  holding  the 
3 


1^ 

epectator  in  breathless  and  painful  admiration  ; — 
but  it  is  like  the  gentle  stream,  diffused  over  a 
thousand  valleys  and  plains,  making  the  desert  to 
rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose,  and  only  marking 
its  course  by  the  verdure  it  causes.  A  great,  but 
silent  change  has  already  been  wrought,  not  only 
throughout  this  country,  but  also  in  a  great  part  of 
Europe.  Large  bodies  move  slowly ;  but  when 
they  are  once  set  in  motion,  they  are  not  easily 
resisted. 

I  would  not  intrude  so  much  on  your  time,  as  to 
mention  all  the  omens  of  the  present  day,  which 
are  auspicious  to  the  cause  of  peace. 

Not  the  least  favourable,  is  the  formation  of 
peace  societies,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The 
circumstance,  that  these  societies  were  project- 
ed simultaneously,  in  various  parts  of  the  world, 
without  the  knowledge  of  each  other,  is  a  demon- 
stration of  a  great  change  in  public  opinion. 
That  gentlemen  high  in  office,  in  rank,  and  in  in- 
fluence, should  boldly  come  forward,  to  advocate 
the  cause  of  peace,  without  fear  of  singularity, 
would  have  been  considered  incredible,  twenty-five 
years  ago. 

The  glorious  stand  which  has  been  made  against 
slavery,  both  in  this  country  and  Great  Britain, 
may  be  reckoned  among  occurrences,  favourable 
to  the  cause  of  peace.  It  is  not  possible  that  en- 
lightened men  should  have  their  attention  aroused 


19 

to  the  state  of  negro  slavery,  without  being  led 
to  the  slavery  of  the  soldier,  who  not  only,  like 
the  other,  loses  his  right  to  a  trial  by  jury,  and  is 
subject  to  the  same  degrading  punishments,  but,  is 
also  compelled  to  murder  his  fellow-man,  and  to 
put  his  conscience  into  the  keeping  of  his  com- 
mander ;  and  is  reduced  to  the  state  of  a  machine, 
an  instrument,  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  sordid  avarice, 
or  no  less  selfish  ambition,  without  being  able  to 
throw  off  his  awful  responsibiHty  to  that  God, 
whose  laws  he  is  compelled  to  violate  ;  and  is  set 
to  fight  like  a  dog  or  a  game  cock,  for  the  sport 
or  gain  of  others.  In  this  particular,  the  soldier 
is  worse  oflT  than  the  slave  ;  for,  since  public  opin- 
ion has  frowned  gladiatorial  shows  out  of  coun- 
tenance, slaves  are  not  compelled  to  fight  for  the 
amusement  of  their  masters.  I  may  here  be  met  by 
the  objection,  that  negro  slavery  is  involuntary, 
while  the  servitude  of  the  soldier  is  otherwise. 
This  is  not  the  case.  To  say  nothing  of  impress- 
ment, conscription,  and  trepanning,  as  practised 
in  Europe,  what  better  are  our  own  rendezvous ; 
where  a  man  is  inveigled,  and  often  enlisted  in  a 
state  of  partial,  if  not  total  ebriety,  and  when 
once  enlisted,  there  is  no  escape  but  by  desertion, 
which  is  punished  with  death,  and  that  sometimes 
without  a  trial  ?  Is  it  possible,  that  a  people 
should  be  sensible  to  negro  slavery,  and  unmindful 
of  the  slavery  of  the  white  man  ?  If  public  opinion 


20        > 

can  abolish  one  species  of  slavery,  it  can  the  other, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  it  can  and  will  abolish 
both.  What  we  could  save  by  peace  would  be 
sufficient  to  pay  the  expense  of  abolishing  slavery. 
Were  we  as  humane  and  benevolent,  as  we  are 
ambitious  of  military  glory,  slavery,  that  disgrace 
and  opprobrium  of  a  free  people,  would  long  ago 
have  been  wiped  away,  and  all  our  black  popula- 
tion, except  what  could  safely  be  permitted  to  live 
in  freedom  among  us,  would  have  been  colonized 
abroad.  The  vessels  which  lay  rotting  at  our 
wharves  during  the  late  war,  would  have  been 
sufficient  for  their  transportation,  and  the  sailors 
employed  on  board  our  navy  and  privateers,  suffi- 
cient for  the  navigation  of  those  vessels,  and  the 
expenses  of  the  war  would  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
have  paid  the  ransom. 

Arbitration  on  national  differences,  and  the  abo- 
lition of  private  war  on  the  ocean, — two  changes, 
in  which  our  country  has  the  glory  of  having  taken 
the  lead, — may  be  considered  as  accomplishing 
the  ardent  desires  of  the  friends  of  peace.  When 
we  left  some  of  our  differences  with  Great  Britain 
to  the  arbitration  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  it 
certainly  was  not  expected,  that  his  decision 
would  be  enforced  by  the  sword.  What  then 
could  have  enforced  it,  but  public  opinion  ?  If  one 
national  difference  may  be  settled  by  arbitration, 
all  others  may  be.    If  private  war  on  the  ocean 


21 


can  be  abolished,  why  ii|ay  not  {mblic  wdr  share 
the  same  fate  ? 

There  is  one  other  circumstance,  favourable  to 
the  cause  of  peace,  which  I  mention,  not  for  its 
magnitude,  but  for  its  singularity.  I  allude  to  the 
interchange  of  captured  standards  between  France 
and  Spain  ; — a  bright  spot  in  a  vast  expanse  of 
blackness,  which,  like  a  single  lamp  in  a  gloomy 
sepulchre,  is  remarkable,  not  so  much  for  its  bril- 
liancy, as  for  the  contrast  which  makes  darkness 
visible.  Oh,  if  all  the  nations  of  Christendom 
could  be  persuaded  to  follow  this  example; — if  all 
the  trophies  of  victory  in  the  world  should  be 
heaped  together  in  one  vast  pile  and  consumed  ; — 
we  might  safely  affirm,  that  never  a  burnt  offering, 
since  Abel's,  has  been  so  acceptable  to  the  God  of 
peace,  and  that  such  a  peace  offering  is  only  sur- 
passed by  the  sacrifice  of  the  Prince  of  Peace 
himself. 

I  have,  hitherto,  addressed  my  highly  respected 
audience  as  philanthropists  only.  But  this  solemn 
temple,  this  sacred  desk,  remind  me  that  I  am 
addressing  an  assembly  of  Christians  ;  and  how- 
ever, as  moral  philosophers,  we  may  augur,  from 
the  signs  of  the  times,  that  the  custom  of  war, 
like  other  barbarous  customs,  is  about  to  be  ban- 
ished from  civilized  society,  yet,  it  is  on  the  holy 
word  of  God, — on  the  Gospel  of  peace,  that  we 
chiefly  rest  our  hopes.     In  all  the  prophecies  of 


the  Old  Testament,  the  ceign  of  Christ  is  identi- 
fied with  the  reign  of  peace,  "when  the  wolf  shall 
dwell  with  the  lamb,"  and  men  "  shall  beat  their 
swords  into  ploughshares  and  their  spears  into 
pruning  hooks,  when  nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword 
against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any 
more,  but  they  shall  sit,  every  one,  under  his  own 
vine  and  fig-tree,  and  none  shall  molest  or  make 
them  afraid,  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  of  hosts 
hath  spoken  it."  "  Peace  on  earth  and  good  will 
towards  men"  was  the  burthen  of  the  song  of  angels, 
when  they  proclaimed  the  advent  of  the  Messiah. 
That  there  is  to  be  a  time  of  universal  peace 
throughout  the  world,  no  one  doubts,  who  believes 
the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  and  it  is 
equally  certain,  that  this  glorious  event  will  be 
consummated  by  a  general  diffusion  of  the  peace- 
able principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  by  a 
change  of  views,  respecting  the  lawfulness  of  war, 
among  Christians  themselves  ;  for  the  precepts 
taught  by  Christ  and  his  Apostles  are  in  exact 
harmony  with  the  prophecies,  which  predicted 
his  coming.  In  our  Saviour's  sermon  on  the  mount, 
there  is  not  one  passage  which  authorizes  war ; 
but  the  whole  tenor  of  that  discourse  forbids  it,  in 
the  most  peremptory  terms.  It  is  urged  by  some, 
that  the  words  of  our  Saviour  are  not  to  be  taken 
in  their  literal  meaning  ; — but  give  them  every 
possible  latitude,  short  of  leaving  them  no  mean- 


ing  at  all,  and  I  defy  any  government,  to  make 
war,  consistently  with  the  principles  there  incul- 
cated. The  whole  tenor  of  his  practice  agreed  with 
his  preaching,  to  the  very  moment  when  he  said, 
"  it  is  finished."  He,  indeed,  on  one  occasion,  was 
understood,  by  his  disciples,  to  command  them  to 
buy  swords  ;  but,  no  sooner  was  one  of  them 
drawn,  than  he  commanded  it  to  be  sheathed, — 
as  though  he  had  allowed  them,  to  take  a  figura- 
tive expression  for  a  literal  command,  in  order  to 
give  this  last  testimony  against  the  use  of  the 
sword.  Had  there  been  any  intention  of  resistance, 
HE  had  no  need  of  swords,  who  had  not  only  all 
the  powers  of  nature,  but  also  legions  of  angels  at 
his  command. 

The  Apostles  and  disciples  of  Christ  followed 
in  his  steps,  and  preached  his  doctrine,  and  the 
whole  of  the  New  Testament  breathes  nothing 
but  peace,  and  love,  and  forgiveness,  and  longsufter- 
ing,  and  a  new  system  of  morality, — that  of  return- 
ing good  for  evil.  The  first  Christians  so  under- 
stood the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  and  for  the  first 
two  or  three  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  no 
professor  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  bore  arms  ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  when  a  Roman  soldier  was  con- 
verted, he  thought  it  a  duty  to  throw  down  his 
arms,  at  the  risk  of  his  life ;  and  many  suffered 
martyrdom,  rather  than  break  what  they  firm- 
ly  believed   to   be  the  commands  of  their  mas- 


ter.  "  While  the  lamp  of  Christianity  burnt 
bright," — while  the  Church  of  Christ  was  pure 
and  persecuted,  the  custom  of  war  was  unknown 
to  Christians.  But  the  corruption  of  the  Church 
began  with  her  temporal  power,  and  she  in  turn 
became  a  persecutor.  She  "  hated  the  light"  and 
the  lamp  of  Christianity  was  extinguished,  or  was 
kept  alive  only  in  remote  places, — in  dens  and 
caves, — amid  mountain  torrents  and  perpetual 
snows.  When  the  Bible  was  refused  to  the 
people,  it  required  no  great  casuistry  to  convince 
the  ignorant  that  war, — especially  war  against 
heretics  and  infidels, — was  not  only  permitted,  but 
commanded.  This  is  not  astonishing,  for  casuists 
of  later  days,  with  the  Bible  in  their  hands,  have 
reconciled  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel  with  con- 
quest, rapine  and  desolation.  Solemn  anathemas 
have  been  thundered  by  Christian  bishops  against 
Christian  nations,  and  solemn  Te  Deums  have 
been  chaunted  in  honor  of  victories  obtained  over 
the  disciples  of  Christ.  But  the  Bible  is  no  longer 
monopolized  by  the  clergy,  and  denied  to  the  laity, 
and  now  that  it  is  in  the  hands  of  every  one  who 
desires  it,  we  have  reason  for  pious  gratitude,  that 
the  light  of  Christianity, — if  it  has  not  yet  abolish- 
ed the  custom  of  war, — has  very  much  tamed  its 
ferocity,  and  we  have  every  reason  to  hope,  that, — 
as  the  influence  of  the  Gospel  shall  increase, — 
as  mankind  shall  be  more  enlightened  by  its  be- 


25 

nign  rays, — wars  will  be  less  and  less  ferocious, 
and  the  intervals  of  peace  longer  and  longer,  until 
"  nation  shall  no  longer  lift  up  sword  against  na- 
tion, nor  learn  war  any  more." 

But  the  subject  we  are  contemplating,  however 
interesting  it  may  be  in  a  temporal  point  of  view, 
is  swelled  to  a  magnitude  which  defies  conception, 
when  we  consider  man  as  an  immortal  being, 
whose  existence  shall  never  have  an  end,  and  shall 
extend  through  a  long  eternity  of  happiness  or 
misery.  How  mean !  how  abject !  how  contempti- 
ble are  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the 
glory  of  them,  when  compared  with  the  immortal 
soul  of  the  meanest  slave,  that  writhes  under  the 
scourge.  Comparing  all  earthly  glory  with  one 
such  soul,  is  weighing  gas  against  gold.  Earth 
makes  distinctions,  which  Heaven  laughs  to  scorn, 
and  Lazarus  the  beggar  shall  be  exalted  to  a  pin- 
nacle of  immortal  glory,  while  the  laurels  of  Csesar 
the  conqueror,  shall  be  trampled  in  the  dust,  or 
only  mark  a  pre-eminence  in  misery.  On  this  view 
of  our  subject,  what  heart  is  so  hard  as  not  to 
shrink  with  horror,  at  the  sight  of  contending  ar- 
mies, where  Christians  are  set  in  battle  array 
against  Christians,  agitated  by  the  direful  passions 
of  hatred  and  revenge,  and  plunging,  in  an  hour, 
thousands  of  immortal  souls, — each  worth  the  tem- 
poral existence  of  a  peopled  world, — unprepared, 
into  the  awful  presence  of  their  judge,  and,  if  we 
4 


26 

believe  the  scriptures,  consigning  many  of  them 
to  endless  misery  and  anguish  ?  Oh,  most  merci- 
ful God  !  didst  thou  create  immortal  souls  to  be 
thus  trifled  with  ?  Oh,  benign  Saviour  of  the  world! 
are  these  thy  children,  thy  professed  followers, 
who,  for  glory,  or  for  some  such  fancied  and  as 
fleeting  good,  can,  not  only  inflict  the  greatest 
temporal  evils  on  innocent  widows  and  orphans, 
and  bereaved  parents ;  but  can  delight  and  glory 
in  the  eternal  destruction  of  their  fellow-creatures. 
Christians,  fold  not  your  arms  in  listless  apathy, 
and  think  to  pass  through  life  guiltless  of  your  bro- 
ther's blood.  What  says  the  Prince  of  Peace  ? 
"  He  that  is  not  with  me  is  against  me."  The 
continuance  of  war  depends  on  public  opinion, 
and  no  person,  male  or  female,  is  without  an  influ- 
ence. If  you  are  not  convinced  on  this  subject,  it 
is  your  duty  to  investigate  it,  by  reading  what  has 
been  written  on  both  sides.  If  jou  are  converted, 
it  is  your  duty  to  "  strengthen  your  brethren,"  and 
to  endeavour  to  convince  others.  Not  a  third, 
perhaps  not  a  tenth  part  of  our  population,  have 
ever  seen  any  publications  on  the  subject  of  per- 
manent and  universal  peace  ;  or,  if  they  have  seen 
them,  have  never  read  them,  but,  wrapped  up  in 
seemingly  impenetrable  prejudices, — imbibed  pro- 
bably in  infancy, — have  refused  to  give  the  subject 
even  their  serious  consideration.  But  mankind 
are  not  always  the  same,  and  he  who  turns  a  deaf 


27 

ear  at  one  time,  may  listen  at  another.  Those 
who  have  not  the  power  of  persuasion,  may  at 
least  circulate  tracts,  favourable  to  the  cause  of 
peace,  or  may  put  their  names,  and  the  weight  of 
their  character  into  the  pacific  scale.  Every  one 
is  accountable  for  his  influence  in  society,  and  no 
one  knows  the  bounds  to  which  it  may  extend.  It 
may  not  only  encircle  his  children,  his  family, 
his  neighborhood  ;  but  it  may  reach  throughout 
his  country,  and  grow  wider  and  wider,  until  it 
meets  itself  at  the  antipodes,  and  it  may  continue 
not  only  through  his  life,  but  long  after  he  shall 
have  been  forgotten,  and  endure  till  the  heavens 
shall  have  been  rolled  together  as  a  scroll,  and 
throughout  the  countless  ages  of  eternity. 

Happily  we  are  not  circumscribed  by  any  party, 
politics,  or  sectarian  principles.  All  "  who  love 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity  and  truth," 
find  themselves  compelled,  if  they  act  up  to  their 
principles,  to  be  on  our  side.  Let  us,  who  are 
willing  to  avow  pacific  principles,  practise  them 
in  our  lives,  and  "  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in 
the  bond  of  peace,"  and  however  we  may  differ 
in  sentiment  concerning  particular  doctrines,  let 
it  be  seen  that  we  agree  in  the  precepts  of  our 
holy  religion,  and  that  we  are  kind  and  charitable 
one  toward  another,  and  tender  of  each  other's 
character  and  feelings,  that  it  may  be  said  of  us, 
as  it  was  of  the  primitive  converts, — "  See  how 
these  Christians  love  one  another." 


NOTES. 


NOTE    A.— Page  10. 

"  The  hospitals,  containing  more  than  twelve  thousanb 
WOUNDED,  began  to  burn.  The  heart  frozen  with  horror,  recoils 
at  the  fatal  disaster  which  ensued.  Almost  all  these  wretched 
victims  perished.  The  few  who  were  still  living,  were  seen 
crawling,  half  burnt,  under  the  smoking  ashes,  or  groaning  under 
the  heaps  of  dead  bodies,  making  ineffectual  efforts  to  extricate 
themselves!"     Labaume's  Narrative,  p.  211. 

"  Amongst  the  burning  houses  were  three  large  barns  filled 
with  poor  soldiers,  chiefly  wounded.  They  could  not  escape  from 
two  of  these,  without  passing  through  the  one  in  front,  which 
was  on  fire  ;  the  most  active  saved  themselves  by  leaping  out  of 
the  windows,  but  all  those  who  were  sick  or  crippled,  not  having 
strength  to  move,  saw  the  flames  advancing  rapidly  to  devour 
them.  Touched  by  their  shrieks,  some,  who  were  least  harden- 
ed, endeavoured  in  vain  to  save  them ;  we  could  only  see  them 
half  buried  under  the  burning  rafters.  Through  whirlwinds  of 
smoke,  they  entreated  their  comrades  to  shorten  their  sufferings 
by  depriving  them  of  life,  and  from  motives  of  humanity,  we 
thought  it  our  duty  to  comply  with  their  wishes.  As  there 
were  some  who,  notwithstanding,  still  survived,  we  heard  them 
with  feeble  voices  crying,  '  Fire  on  us !  fire  on  us !  at  the  head ! 
at  the  head !  do  not  miss !'  These  heart-rending  cries  did  not 
cease  till  the  whole  were  consumed."     lb.  p.  363. 

NOTE  B— Page  10. 

"In  the  midst  of  this  horrid  gloom,  overwhelmed  by  the 
whirlwinds  of  snow  which  assailed  him,  the  soldier  could  n« 


longer  distinguish  the  main  road  from  the  ditches,  and  often  fell 
into  the  latter,  which  served  him  for  a  tomb.  Others,  eager  to 
press  forward,  dragged  themselves  along  with  pain  ;  badly  clothed 
and  shod,  having  nothing  to  eat  or  drink,  groaning  and  shivering 
with  cold,  they  gave  no  assistance,  neither  shewed  any  signs  of 
compassion  to  those  who,  sinking  from  weakness,  expired  around 
them."     Labaume's  Narrative,  p.  329.  ^ 


NOTE   C— Page  10. 

"  Without  fire,  perishing  with  cold,  they  lay  on  the  bare 
ice  ;  to  appease  their  ravenous  hunger,  they  seized  with  avidity 
the  horse-flesh  which  was  distributed  to  them,  and  for  want  of 
time  and  means  to  dress  it,  ate  it  quite  raw  ;  and  I  have  been 
assured,  though  I  dare  not  believe  it,  that  when  this  supply  fail- 
ed, many  of  them  ate  the  flesh  of  their  comrades,  who  had  sunk 
under  their  miseries."     Labaume's  Narrative,  p.  278. 

"  Whenever  a  soldier  sunk  from  fatigue,  his  next  neighbour 
rushed  on  him  and  stripped  him  of  his  clothes,  even  before  he 
was  dead.  Every  moment  we  heard  them  begging  the  aid  of 
some  charitable  hand  ;  '  My  comrades,'  exclaimed  one  with  a 
heart-rending  voice,  '  help  me  to  rise  ;  deign  to  lend  me  a  hand 
to  pursue  my  march.'  AH  passed  by  without  even  regarding 
him.  '  Ah  ;  I  conjure  you  not  to  abandon  me  to  the  enemy  ;  in 
the  name  of  humanity  grant  me  the  trifling  assistance  I  ask  ; 
help  me  to  rise.'  Instead  of  being  moved  by  a  prayer  so  touch- 
ing, they  considered  him  as  already  dead,  and  began  to  strip 
him  ;  we  then  heard  iiis  cries,  '  Help  !  help  !  they  murder  me  ! 
Why  do  you  trample  me  under  your  feet  1  Why  do  you  take 
from  me  the  remainder  of  my  money  and  my  bread  ]  You  even 
take  away  my  clothes  1'  If  some  officer,  urged  by  generous 
feelings,  did  not  arrive  in  time  to  prevent  it,  many  in  the  like 
situation  would  have  been  assassinated  by  their  own  comrades." 
lb.  p.  407. 

"  Every  day  furnished  scenes  too  painful  to  relate.  Some  had 
lost  their  hearing,  others  their  speech,  and  many,  by  excessive 
cold  and  hunger,  were  reduced  to  such  a  state  of  stupid  frenzy, 
that  they  roasted  the  dead  bodies  for  food,  and  even  gnawed 
their  own  hands  and  arms  Some,  who  were  too  weak  to  lift  a 
piece  of  wood,  or  to  roll  a  stone  towards  the  fire,  sat  down  upon 
their  dead  companions,  and  with  an  unmoved  countenance,  gazed 
upon  the  burnmg  logs.  When  they  were  consumed,  these  livid 
spectres,  unable  to  get  up,  fell  by  the  side  of  those  on  whom 


3 

they  had  been  seated.  Many,  in  a  state  of  mental  alienation,  in 
order  to  warm  themselves,  plunged  their  bare  feet  into  the  fire ; 
some,  with  a  convulsive  laugh,  threw  themselves  into  the  flames, 
and  uttering  shocking  cries,  perished  in  the  most  horrible  con- 
tortions ;  others  in  a  state  of  equal  madness,  followed  their  ex- 
ample, and  shared  the  same  fate  !"     lb.  p.  410. 

"  Multitudes  of  these  desolate  fugitives  lost  their  speech, 
others  were  seized  with  frenzy,  and  many  were  so  maddened  by 
the  extremes  of  pain  and  hunger,  that  they  tore  the  dead  bodies 
of  their  comrades  into  pieces,  and  feasted  on  the  remains  !''  R. 
K.  Porter's  Campaign  in  Russia,  p.  377. 

"  In  the  hospitals  of  Wilna,  there  were  left  above  17,000  dead 
and  dying,  frozen  and  freezing ;  the  bodies  of  the  former  broken 
up,  served  to  stop  the  cavities  in  windows,  floors,  and  walls  ; 
but  in  one  of  the  corridors  of  the  Great  Convent,  above  1,600 
bodies  were  piled  up  transversely,  as  pigs  of  lead  or  iron.  When 
these  were  finally  removed  on  sledges  to  be  burnt,  the  most  ex- 
traordinary figures  were  presented  by  the  variety  of  their  atti- 
tudes, for  none  seem  to  have  been  frozen  in  a  composed  state. 
Each  was  fixed  in  the  last  action  of  his  life,  in  the  last  direction 
given  to  his  limbs  ;  even  the  eyes  retained  the  last  expression, 
either  of  anger,  pain  or  entreaty.  In  the  roads,  men  were  col- 
lected round  the  burning  ruins  of  their  cottages,  which  a  mad 
spirit  of  destruction  had  fired,  picking  and  eating  the  burnt 
bodies  of  fellow-men,  while  thousands  of  horses  were  moaning 
in  agony,  with  their  flesh  mangled  and  hacked  to  satisfy  the  crav- 
ings of  a  hunger  that  knew  no  pity.  In  many  of  the  sheds,  men 
scarcely  alive,  had  heaped  on  their  frozen  bodies  human  carcasses, 
which,  festering  by  the  communication  of  animal  heat,  had 
mingled  the  dying  and  the  dead  in  one  mass  of  putrefaction." 
Sir  Robert  Wilson's  Sketch,  p.  34. 


NOTE    D.— Page  10. 

"  On  seeing  the  enemy,  those  who  had  not  crossed,  mingling 
with  the  Poles,  rushed  towards  the  bridge  ;  artillery,  baggage, 
cavalry,  and  inAmtry,  all  endeavoured  to  pass  first.  The  strong 
threw  into  the  water  the  weak,  who  impeded  their  advance,  and 
trampled  under  foot  the  sick  and  wounded  whom  they  found  in 
their  way.  Many  hundreds  were  crushed  under  the  wheels  of 
the  artillery  ;  others,  who  had  hoped  to  save  themselves  by  swim- 
ming, were  frozen  in  the  river,  or  perished  by  slipping  from  the 
ice.     Thousands   and   thousands  of  hopeless  victims,  notwith- 


standing  these  sorrowful  examples,  threw  themselves  into  tlie 
Berezina,  where  they  nearly  all  perished  in  convulsions  of  grief 
or  despair."     Labaume's  Narrative,  p.  394. 

NOTE  E— Page  10. 

"  It  was  now  tte  thirteenth  day  after  the  battle.  It  is  im- 
possible for  the  imagination  to  conceive  the  sufferings  of  men, 
rudely  carried  at  such  a  period  of  their  wounds.  ******  At  four 
in  the  morning  I  offered  my  services,  and  at  six,  I  entered  on 
the  most  painful  duty  of  my  life,  in  inspecting  and  operating 
on  these  unfortunate  men.  I  was  thus  engaged,  uninterruptedly, 
from  six  in  the  morning  till  seven  at  night,  for  three  successive 
days."     Charles  Bell,  Surgeon  of  the  Middlesex  Hospital. 

NOTE   F.— Page  10. 

"  The  French  troops,  as  they  poured  into  the  devoted  city, 
had  spread  themselves  in  every  direction  in  search  of  plunder, 
and  in  their  progress  they  committed  outrages  so  horrid  on  the 
persons  of  all  whom  they  discovered,  that  fathers,  desperate  to 
save  their  children  from  pollution,  would  set  fire  to  their  places 
of  refuge,  and  find  a  surer  asylum  in  the  flames.  The  streets, 
the  houses,  the  cellars  flowed  with  blood,  and  were  filled  with 
violation  and  carnage!"     R.  K.  Porter's  Narrative,  p.  170. 

"  But  nothing  was  so  terrific  as  the  dread  that  reigned  in 
every  mind,  and  which  was  heightened  in  the  dead  of  the  night 
by  the  shrieks  of  the  unfortunate  creatures  who  were  massacred, 
or  by  the  cries  of  young  females,  who  fled  for  refuge  to  the  pal- 
pitating bosoms  of  their  mothers,  and  whose  ineffectual  struggles 
only  served  to  inflame  the  passions  of  their  violators."  Labaume's 
Narrative,  p.  214. 

"  The  kw  houses  that  escaped  their  (the  first  division  of  the 
French  army,)  ravages,  were  burnt  by  the  second  division,  who 
completed  what  their  comrades  had  left  unfinished  in  the  work 
of  devastation.  In  the  ruins  were  entombed,  soldiers  and  pea- 
sants, children  wantonly  murdered,  and  young  gals  massacred 
fln  the  spot  where  they  had  been  violated."     lb.  p.  329. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  U8RARY  FAClUTf 


A    001  069  868    6 


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